2009 PMA Acceptance Speech: Content of the Year

A PMA? No way! This is totally out of the blue. The first reaction is to offer thanks to AC's Leah Franklin, who guided me through the article and who steadily is so positive. Also props to Tim Skillern, who often must scratch his head in reaction to this contributor's lesser works, and to Heather Sangria for her kindness and patience. Special gratitude to Lyn Lomasi not just for the encouragement she gives so many of us, but for taking time to show a particular dummy on deadline how to hyperlink, find the missing tool bar atop the screen, and stuff like that.

The second reaction is humility. Journalism prizes, by their nature, are highly subjective. To achieve an award does not mean you are "the best," and on the flip side, to see somebody else selected does not mean you fell short. The true award is to know in your heart that you have done your best.

Luck is also involved. This particular article, on the topic of Detroit charities struggling to raise funds in hard times, was possible only through the prompt cooperation of the town's Salvation Army and City Rescue Mission operations. Sometimes the pieces simply fall into place. Believe me, for the past few weeks you would think you were looking at the world's worst reporter .... folks won't return calls, the computer decides to get a virus. All writers have our ups and downs.

Way back when, my task was to judge entries in a college journalism contest. I whittled the entries down to a final four, and then kept changing my mind: "This one. No, this one." If those four journalists could have seen how subjective it all was, what would they have thought?

This is how awards often work. Now, as for receiving a PMA and getting a big head, well, if you sneak a peak at my avatar, indeed you will see sort of a big head. But that's only a physical trait. Mentally, there's no big head. Instead there is humility, considering all of the great work that so many of you are contributing to Associated Content.